Snowballs and Siblings
by Galenfea
Summary: One snowy day, Finrod's family is determined that he will go and play in the snow with his brothers and sister . He winds up having a much better time than he had anticipated.


_Just something quick I wrote while snowed in yesterday; I really wanted to write something that involved Galadriel getting excited about snow._

_I was in two minds about what names I should use, but eventually decided that for my sanity's sake I should use their Sindarin names._

_All these characters belong to Tolkien and I am not making any money from this story, so there's no point in suing me._

* * *

"Finrod! Finrod, wake up, it's snowing!"

Finrod groaned. Three younger siblings had given him a deep-seated dread of those words. Galadriel, his little sister, still hadn't got over the novelty of snow.

"Finrod, why aren't you getting up?" she demanded, and he felt by the way that the mattress shifted that she was clambering onto his bed. This theory was confirmed as she started to bounce up and down on it. "Come on, Finrod, don't be boring!"

"Yes, come on, Finrod," said a male voice from the doorway. He groaned. Galadriel was one thing. Angrod and Aegnor were another. Angrod had spoken, but he was certain that Aegnor was there – they were as inseparable as his cousins Maedhros and Fingon, or Celegorm and Curufin.

"I expect this sort of thing from her," he said, keeping the blankets pulled over his head despite Galadriel's attempts to take them. "But you, Aegnor, are easily old enough to know better, and you, Angrod, even older."

"And you, Finrod, are disappointing your younger siblings terribly."

That was his father's voice. He groaned again, admitting defeat, and let Galadriel pull the blankets down. Both his brothers and both his parents were standing in the doorway, all dressed to go out in the snow. He could not believe that his little brothers (a category in which he included the one who was actually a sister) had brought his parents into this.

"Father..." he said, not especially caring that he sounded like a petulant child. They all knew how this would end: Angrod and Aegnor and probably Galadriel would gang up on him, and he would end up buried under a heap of snowballs that probably weighed more than he did, and he couldn't even complain because he was the elder brother.

"Finrod..." said Finarfin sternly.

Finrod sighed. He knew that when his father used that tone, there was no point in arguing. While he didn't want to be thrashed in a snowball fight by his brothers and any cousins and friends they had managed to rustle up, he also didn't want to be confined to his room for the day.

"All right," he said, with as much good grace as he could muster. "All right. But I want Galadriel on my team in the snowball fight." At least that would take away one over-enthusiastic thrower of snowballs.

Angrod and Aegnor looked at one another as Galadriel squealed and gave Finrod a hug. He smiled and hugged her back.

"Very well," said Angrod, and Aegnor tossed Finrod his snow boots.

"We'll see you outside!" he said, laughing, and held out a hand to beckon to Galadriel. She bounced off Finrod and ran to join the rest of the family.

"Hurry and dress, Finrod, or we'll unleash them on you again," said Earwen with a smile as Finarfin herded Finrod's little brothers away.

"Yes, Mother," he said with a smile, getting out of bed and wincing as his feet touched the cold floor.

Earwen smiled again and pulled the door to. He could hear her feet hurrying after the retreating voices of the rest of the family and he sighed, stretching and reaching for his clothes.

Once dressed and having combed and braided his hair, he crept along the corridor, took his cloak from its hook, pulled on his gloves and took a look around before stepping through the door.

Nonetheless, he had barely taken a step when he was engulfed in snow.

As he beat it off his shoulders and shook his out of his hair, hissing as it ran down his spine, he could hear Angrod and Aegnor laughing. He sighed, stepping out of the heap that had formed around his feet. There were times that he genuinely felt sorry for Maedhros – six younger brothers?

Another snowball hit him in the back of the head and he turned, scooping up snow with one hand, taking aim and throwing with a single motion. He hit Angrod, who was up on the roof, square in the chest.

Angrod dramatically clutched at his sternum as though in pain and fell very gracefully onto the snow. Finrod had to laugh at him, but his laughter was cut off as another snowball hit him, followed by a yell and a burst of shrill laughter.

"Gala-" He turned, to see Galadriel throwing snow with both hands at Aegnor, ice crystals clinging in her hair and her cloak askew. He laughed and also prepared a snowball as Aegnor tried to shield his face from Galadriel's handfuls of loose snow. As he threw it, though, Angrod in turn hit him in the back.

"Drat you both," he muttered. "Galadriel!"

She looked round and threw a last handful of snow haphazardly towards Aegnor.

"Come on!" he called, and held out a hand to beckon her. She grinned and ran towards him as he took another snowball from Angrod. Aegnor was preparing snowballs, but didn't throw any. Perhaps he was afraid of hitting Galadriel; if she got hurt or upset, their parents tended to blame the elder brothers regardless of how it had happened.

Finrod took her hand and they ran out of the crossfire between their two brothers.

"All right," he said, pulling her behind a drift. "You make lots of snowballs, and I'll throw them."

She nodded, looking too thrilled about being deliberately asked to be on his team to be upset that she wasn't being asked to throw. He peered over the top of the drift and saw Angrod and Aegnor also preparing snowballs.

Galadriel had a few ready and he indicated that she should get ready to throw one, putting a finger to his lips. She giggled in excitement, but took a snowball in each hand and stood up so that she too could see.

They waited a moment, then he nodded and they both threw their snowballs. Galadriel's enthusiasm made up for her aim, her two snowballs landing both short and wide, and Finrod's snowball struck true, hitting Aegnor straight in the face.

"I'll make more!" said Galadriel, gathering up handfuls of snow.

Finrod ducked as a pair of snowballs sailed overhead and took the snowballs that Galadriel offered him. He waited for the next pair, curved to land closer to them, and jumped up to throw the two snowballs, hitting Angrod and Aegnor with one each in quick succession. He looked down to see Galadriel holding up two more snowballs with a broad grin. He took them with thanks and threw them too.

At that point Angrod and Aegnor decided that theirs was a losing strategy and separated, each running in different directions to flank the drift hiding Finrod and Galadriel.

"Come on!" said Finrod, scooping Galadriel up. She brought an armload of snowballs with her and insisted that he carry her on his shoulders so that she could still throw.

Her aim was even worse from there, and she kept dropping bits of snow down his neck, but he was laughing so hard that he hardly minded. He should teach this trick to some of the cousins. It would at last keep Amrod and Amras out from under people's feet if a couple of their brothers were carrying them, not to mention that it would reduce the number of sons of Feänor that he had to keep track of.

Galadriel threw her last snowball at Angrod, actually hitting him, and burst into giggles as Finrod lifted her down from his shoulders.

"Come on," he said, straightening her cloak. "Let's get inside."

She nodded and took his hand as they ran back towards the house in a hail of snowballs. Apparently Angrod and Aegnor had decided that it would be worth the risk of hitting Galadriel for a chance at hitting Finrod.

"We should play together all the time!" panted Galadriel as they sprinted over the last few yards.

Finrod laughed, pausing to kick the snow from his boots on the doorstep. "You know, little sister, perhaps we should."


End file.
